Put into bat by NCSU after losing the toss TCC had a bad start from which it never recovered. Rajesh facing Atul got a ball of yorker length (the 1 ^st ball of the match), played over the line and lost his middle stump. TCC was 0 for 1. Vijay went ahead of Ramesh- who was demoted due to his bad performance in the previous match- and with Kalyan settled things down for some time. The score rate was actually moving very briskly in a wicket which was not very conducive to stroke play, with the odd ball stopping a little bit. Kalyan had a lovely slice through gully for a four. Vijay looked ominously good with two excellent drives through the off for fours. In 4 overs TCC was 28 for 1. The parade then began… Kalyan held his drive back as the ball stopped a shade after pitching. The ball bounced a little higher than anticipated and went straight back to the bowler.

Vijay was unfortunate. Atul's delivery pitched outside the offstump and may have slightly moved in but Vijay was well forward when the ball rapped him on the pads. The appeal was upheld by Steve and TCC was 3 down for 30 odd runs. Vijay had batted well for his 14 runs. Ram went in his customary 2 down position and immediately started playing his strokes. The first ball was turned off his hips down the leg for a single. Anand was on the other end and it looked as though these two- who are among the better bats in the league- would be able to bring things back to normal- when Ram got out. The ball was pitched up on his leg side. Ram flicked it uppishly and it was well caught by the fielder running in from mid wicket. Damodar who went in swung at a ball down the off and was held well by Ramki at deep gully.

TCC was 40 odd for 5. Ramesh went in after Damodar. Anand meanwhile was playing quite well, considering that this was his 1^st chance of playing an extended innings (he hardly batted against ANZACS before the rain came down). A short pitched ball on the leg was quicky turned and dispatched to the square leg fence. Again just when things looked like improving for TCC Anand fell- driving at a ball which was just short of good length. Like Kalyan, the ball came slower than expected and the catch was well taken by the fielder and short cover.

Sandeep came in to bat and played a wonderful innings. Playing perfectly with the body behind the bat he waited that extra second for the ball to come on to the bat before playing his stroke. Anything to the stumps was played off watchfully. Anything fractionally off was swung away. Two lovely shots on the off side and one ball which was short was pulled through midwicket. The pick of the shots was a superb extra cover drive for four- which was just sheer timing. Ramesh on the other end kept sticking there, with a push here and there for singles. The idea was to stay there for some time and then go for the big hits later. The run rate was very good at around 4.5-5 runs an over. It was just a matter of keeping the wicket.

Ramesh undid all good by going for a flick on the legside. The ball went sky high and was taken by the fielder at mid-on. TCC was 68 for 7. Sandeep followed soon after missing the line of a ball which kept slightly low to get him leg before for a well compiled 17. Amit played quite well in his brief stay. Srini who was in the match cause Khalil dropped out could not do much due to the ACL tear and was out to a great catch by the fielder running from unorthodox short fine leg. Amit was the final man to go pulling a full toss, but not getting it all to be caught in the mid wicket boundary. Krishna never got a chance to show his wares and TCC innings folded up at 77. NCSU bowlers kept the ball up and were very well supported by their fielders. Two excellent catches -one to get Damodar and other to get Srini were the pick of the lot.

77 all out was not a great total by any means. Hats off to the bowlers and Vijay for making this competitive. Vijay did a masterful job of rotating the bowling. This author keeps dicking with Vijay and subjects him to a lot of ribbing. But yesterday Vijay really focussed on the job at hand. Krishna started off with Sandeep. Krishna's 1^st spell was very good except for his wides. But nothing compared to his second spell…Sandeep opened on the other end and justified Vijay's decision by bowling a lovely maiden (1 ^st over). The runs were quite tight to come by. The 1^st wicket was a run out by an excellent pick and throw by Amit- who by the way is having a brilliant year on the field. So far 3 catches ( 1 great one) and one run out. Hari was the batsman out. Surya came in and had three fours to his credit. In the meantime the other State opener was playing quite well.

Vijay brought himself on and immediately got a wicket. The ball was pitched up inviting a drive. The straight drive was taken very well by Vijay on his follow through -diving and taking it inches from the ground. Vijay was switching bowlers around and the fielders were giving it all to make 77 a fighting total. Surya and Ramki were settling down when Krishna got his second spell.

This was by far the best I have seen him bowl since his WVU days. Ramki was out off a ball which kicked up after pitching to be well taken by Kalyan (who kept very well). The ball which got Muggy was a beauty. Just short of good length and which moved after pitching. It beat the batsman totally to remove the stumps. A pace bowler's dream… The next batsman was out caught well by Sandeep at the line (who is one of the safest fielders in the team) off Vijay. Atul was out leg before and NCSU were 60 odd for 7.

But in the end 77 proved too small a target with Riaz hitting some lovely lofted shots to bring NCSU home- the winning shot being a 6 over midwicket. All in all a good game. The match was played in good spirit with little controversy except for one terrible decision. Surya went down the wicket missed the line completely and Kalyan removed the bails immediately. The bat was nowhere near the crease with Surya getting his feet in later. It is understandable that if the whole scenario was very close then the doubt would favor the batsman. But there was almost a couple of seconds difference between Kalyan removing the bails and Surya getting back to the crease. The umpire said "not out". This decision may not have had any bearing in the game- State would still have won- but such a thing was totally unnecessary in an otherwise well played game. Kudos to State for having gotten six points.